Decomposition of disk and jet optical emission: Case of PKS~1510-089 and PKS~0736+017

Measuring BLR size and black hole mass of jetted quasars with strong radio emission is challenging due to the contribution from non-thermal synchrotron radiation from the jet in the optical continuum. Here, we investigate the optical continuum emission in two flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), PKS~0736+017 and PKS~1510-089, by separating the thermal emission from the accretion disk and the non-thermal synchrotron emission from the jet using their distinct polarization signatures. Our analysis combines multi-epoch optical spectro-photometric and polarimetric observations from the archival optical continuum, H$β$ emission line light curves from earlier reverberation mapping campaigns, and 37 GHz radio data. For PKS~0736+017, we find that the disk contributes approximately 70 % ($f_d = 0.70^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$) of the total optical emission. After removing the jet component, we obtain a revised H$β$ lag of $84.8^{+23.2}_{-18.4}$ days. In contrast, the disk contribution in PKS~1510-089 is lower with 37.5 % ($f_d = 0.37^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$), with a corresponding H$β$ lag of $54.4^{+4.4}_{-5.4}$ days. Our findings highlight the need for careful decomposition of optical light curves in jet-dominated AGN.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-11-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2611.03006
Primary Topic
Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
Type
preprint
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preprint

Decomposition of disk and jet optical emission: Case of PKS~1510-089 and PKS~0736+017

Suvendu Rakshit, Shivangi Pandey, Ayush Gupta, Adarsh Kumar et al.
arXiv (Cornell University)
Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
preprint

Decomposition of disk and jet optical emission: Case of PKS~1510-089 and PKS~0736+017

Suvendu Rakshit, Shivangi Pandey, Ayush Gupta, Adarsh Kumar, Merja Tornikoski, Anne Lähteenmäki
preprint en

Abstract

Measuring BLR size and black hole mass of jetted quasars with strong radio emission is challenging due to the contribution from non-thermal synchrotron radiation from the jet in the optical continuum. Here, we investigate the optical continuum emission in two flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), PKS~0736+017 and PKS~1510-089, by separating the thermal emission from the accretion disk and the non-thermal synchrotron emission from the jet using their distinct polarization signatures. Our analysis combines multi-epoch optical spectro-photometric and polarimetric observations from the archival optical continuum, H$β$ emission line light curves from earlier reverberation mapping campaigns, and 37 GHz radio data. For PKS~0736+017, we find that the disk contributes approximately 70 % ($f_d = 0.70^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$) of the total optical emission. After removing the jet component, we obtain a revised H$β$ lag of $84.8^{+23.2}_{-18.4}$ days. In contrast, the disk contribution in PKS~1510-089 is lower with 37.5 % ($f_d = 0.37^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$), with a corresponding H$β$ lag of $54.4^{+4.4}_{-5.4}$ days. Our findings highlight the need for careful decomposition of optical light curves in jet-dominated AGN.

arXiv (Cornell University)
Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
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